On December 18, 2025, the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) within the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released a slip opinion, “Reconsidering the Authority of the Department of Veterans Affairs to Provide Abortion Services.” The new opinion rescinds a prior OLC opinion and concludes that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) does not have the authority to provide any abortion care or counseling at VA health facilities, except in very narrow life-saving circumstances.The legal opinion was authored by OLC’s Josh Craddock, a vocally anti-abortion  Trump appointee. 

VA used the opinion to justify immediately implementing a total abortion ban, instead of waiting for the conclusion of the statutorily required regulatory process. Although the final rule banning abortion at VA facilities formally goes into effect on January 30, 2026, an internal VA memo announced that the ban is already in place. This is now one of the strictest abortion bans in the country, applying even in states that protect the right to abortion.